The creation of Microsoft Agent solutions at Project Destiny
Studios is separated into two main processes, the production of the Agent
character file and the development of the Agent-enabled software
application. Because each type of work
is so dramatically different for each process, the Agent character file
development and Agent application development quotes have been separated.

Agent
Character Development Options and Costs

Project
Destiny Studios specializes in traditional hand-drawn animation, and uses a
style of animation similar to that of the Walt Disney Company. Animation is drawn at the movie industry
standard of 24 frames-per-second to ensure the most fluid and lifelike motion
possible. Hand-drawn animation is a
highly specialized and laborious process, but at the same time it produces
breathtaking results that cannot be paralleled by any other method. Animation work includes the costs for the
rough key animation, rough in-between animation, clean-up animation, ink and
paint work, digitizing the animation artwork, and compiling the Agent character
file.

Due
to the unique nature of animation work, time and cost estimates can only be
given after taking into account both the complexity of the animated character’s
design and the actions that are desired for animation. For example, if you wanted to commission an
animated character that is as complete as the Foxee™ character located at
www.foxee.net, it would likely cost you between US$2000.00 and US$2500.00. Although this may seem expensive, consider
the fact that Hollywood animation studios spend in excess of US$100 million for
each animated feature they produce, and hire teams of over 200 people to create
them. Taking that into consideration,
commissioning Project Destiny Studios to do your animation work costs a mere
fraction of what you would pay if you were to use a Hollywood animation studio
to do the same quality of work, and that is with the assumption that you could
find a Hollywood studio that would be willing to do the work at all!

Foxee™, the arctic blue fox, is a fully functional Microsoft
Agent character that can be built to work with either a desktop or a web
application. She has a British English
text-to-speech engine built in for audio speech output, and can accept user
input from a computer keyboard or a mouse.
She has a “tail swish” idling animation, an eye-blink animation, an "Alert" animation, an animation where she looks cross with you,
and and animation where she barks at you to get your attention. In addition, she supports the Microsoft Agent Idle Level 1,
Showing, Hiding, and Listening standard animation states.
A working example of Foxee™ being used as part of a web application can
be seen at www.foxee.net.

Costs:

US$50 Commercial License Fee per Agent character file

US$29 Personal and Educational Use License Fee per Agent character file

Benefits:

Uses
an already existing Agent Character that has been tested and proven

No
character development time or costs

No
animation production costs

Already
debugged and tested

What
you see is what you get

Predetermined
price

Commissioning Additional Animations for the Foxee™ Agent Character

If you would like to have Foxee™ be able to do more than
just move, talk, and wag her tail, you can commission Project Destiny Studios
to create new animations and actions to be added to her. There are many possibilities for animations
that you can have drawn for Foxee™.
Some examples include having Foxee™ be able to open and shape her mouth
as she pronounces words while she speaks, having her run, jump, or dig, and
having her show emotions like being happy, angry, sad, surprised, or
scared. In the end what Foxee™ can be
animated to do is limited only by your own creativity!

Costs:

US$50 per hour of animation development work

Benefits:

Uses
an already existing Agent Character that has been tested and proven

No
character development time or costs

The
ability to add your own animations specifically designed for your
application

Developing a Custom Agent Character

A custom Agent character meeting your specifications can be
designed to uniquely represent your company.
You will get complete control over what the abilities and animations
developed for the character will be, and you can have more control over the
amount of time and costs needed to develop the character.

Costs:

US$50 per hour of character design work

US$50 per hour of animation development work

Benefits:

Allows
your company the most control over the development of the character,
including determining the character’s design, personality, and animated
abilities

Agent Application Development Costs

Agent application development work includes planning,
analyzing, designing, implementing, and maintaining the Agent software
application. The hourly rate for
application development work is US$50 per hour, which according to the
CyberAtlas Web Marketing Guide is $US30 less per hour than the average cost of
employing computer programmers in the United States. This shows once again how using Project Destiny Studios to
develop an animated Agent character for you is a very cost-effective solution.